Page 34 of Falling

Dismissed, the mood is broken and I’m certain any contrived feelings I imagined were all in my head, particularly the one without brain cells. I’m grateful she turns to get the broom because I have to adjust myself before I’m able to walk. My thoughts are an eternal string of curse words as I trudge up the stairs, through my bedroom, and into my bathroom. I could’ve gone to the closest bathroom, but frankly, Ineed the distance. Being on the same floor as her right now feels too close.

I shut the door behind me and lean against it, barely sparing a glance at the stranger in the mirror. I walk over to the counter, sagging against it as I tug my shirt over my head and open my fly. I let out a long hiss as I wrap my fist around my fevered dick and simply grip it as tight as I can. A long guttural moan escapes when I slide my hand up and down once and then again in quick succession…and one last time. It’s embarrassing how fast I make a mess, how endless my release feels as I squeeze my eyes shut and still see Ruby Sunshine Jones shining through.

I’ve been about to explode since the first night I met her.

And me trying to be decent and not jack off to thoughts of her while she’s in the other room is probably what backfired on me tonight.

In my defense, which I don’t really feel worthy of, but here it is: I didn’t realize when I opened my home to her that she’d be staying this long.

No excuse, Landmark, I tell myself.Just get through this night and she’ll be out of here tomorrow.

I wash my hands and chest and catch a better look in the mirror. Holy hell. I still have the scruff on my face—I rarely let it go into a full beard anymore, but I can’t be bothered to shave every day either. But it’s been a long time since I’ve been this clean-cut. My neck is exposed, my eyes and jawline more defined, and I look a good five or six years younger.

She’s right…she’s good.

I put my shirt back on and hear something in the other room that makes me freeze. My heart is already pounding from my session with my dick, but now it tries to gallop right out of my chest.

“Hello?” I call.

She wouldn’t have heard me, right?

I open the door and Ruby is in my room, hustling toward the door to the hall. She turns and stares at me, eyes wide, her face pink.

Fuck.

“I’m sorry,” she pants. “I was just—I wanted to see if you liked your hair…and your bedroom door was open, but I shouldn’t have come—”

Her cheeks burn even hotter and oh yeah, she heard. She knows exactly what I just did. I cross my arms over my chest and she gulps.

“I’m not exactly used to company,” I say gruffly.

Deafening silence.

And then…her shoulders shake as she starts to laugh. She slaps her hand over her mouth, her eyes widening as she can’t seem to reconcile her laugh with her mortification.

My lips twitch as I try to hold in my own hysteria, but when it bursts out of me, my laugh so loud it bounces off the walls, Ruby jumps…which only makes us laugh harder.

I run my palm over my face, certain my own cheeks must be on fire, and Ruby fans her face as she tries to catch her breath.

“I’m…sorry you heard that,” I finally say.

“What? No, no,” she sputters. “Are you kidding? I’ve tried so hard to be quiet myself, but it’s so stinking silent out here in these mountains.” She gasps, as if she realizes too late what she’s admitted.

Well, well.My hands go to my waist, head tilting as I study the way her chest starts splotching all the way from the cleavage that’s peeking out of her sweater to the very tips of her ears.

“How many times have you tried to be quiet?” My voice is calmer than I feel. Measured and every word distinct.

Not sure where I get the nerve to go there, but we’re in uncharted territory already, and frankly, I need to know her fucking answer.

“Every night,” she whispers.

My fists clench and her eyes drop down my body. My dick wrestles against my zipper.

“And every morning,” she adds.

It’s like the bathroom didn’t even happen. I’m hard as steel just like that.

She sucks in a deep breath and when her eyes meet mine again, they’re glassy. Her nipples are peaked, and the way her chest is rising and falling—I might be oblivious about women ninety-eight percent of the time, but I’m an observer, and I know what I see in front of me right now…

---